Part of the joy of cars is how there’s so much you can do with them. You can modify them, repair them, shine them, maintain them, race them, go on trips with them, and yes, even park them. Alright, so a subculture around parking cars hasn’t gone mainstream yet, but that hasn’t stopped people from exploring all facets of the automotive experience. This is the Pittsburgh Parallel Parking Championship, and it’s officially my new favorite sport.
Part of the genius of the competition is how accessible it is. Pretty much everyone has to parallel park at some point, and while it’s definitely a skill that takes time to hone, it’s not one you have to hit the gym for. Instead, it’s a game of geometry, vision, and knowing your car. Plus, turning it into a competitive skill showcase is a pretty low-risk endeavor. It’s not wheel-to-wheel motorsports, it doesn’t involve much in the way of speed at all, and it’s something open to pretty much anyone. As soon as I learned about the Pittsburgh Parallel Parking Championship, I reached out to learn more, and Dan Leber, the creator of the event, reached back.
It started as a kernel of a dumb idea. I’ve long thought that I was above average at parallel parking and also realized that other people are also pretty emphatic about either being great or avoiding it all together. I put a little thought into what a contest might look like – most of which was just creating and testing a formula to make sure the scoring was objective, repeatable, and just made sense. My wife was 100 percent onboard from the first time I told her which was like “whoa, I guess we have to do this now.” My friends were instantly on board too. So we picked a date, I made a couple sandwich boards, got ourselves a name with a website to host the leaderboard, and did the bare minimum to make the event. The first year I think we did it in November which was a terrible idea – it was freezing.
While November in Pittsburgh isn’t always the most comfortable time and place to be standing around outside for hours on end, evidently that first event struck a chord. The Pittsburgh Parallel Parking Championship just celebrated its fifth running, and while a late location change was needed due to being booted out of a spot, it all came together beautifully in the end.
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So, how exactly is the best parallel parker decided? With a formula, of course:
(TIME (sec.) X Distance to Curb (cm)(/7)), multiplied by a positive or negative equalizer, depending on vehicle length.
The equalizer itself is a handicap of 0.2 per inch of vehicle length under 175 inches and an inverse boost per inch over 175. However, if you’re a Smart Fortwo enthusiast, I have bad news: Partially thanks to the standard parking spot length of 20 feet, Smart models have been banned from the outset because, as Leber put it, “I want this to be competitive for everyone.”
Other rules to know before you start? No spotters, no vehicles with more or fewer than four wheels, no hitting the curb, and no hitting the vehicles fore and aft of the spot, although in-car technologies, including camera systems, may be used. While this might seem like newer cars have an advantage, especially ones with 360-degree camera systems, my experience in hundreds of cars suggests that the guidelines on these OEM camera systems are often less accurate than simply dipping the curbside mirror to show the rear tire. The timer starts as soon as the driver puts the car in reverse and stops as soon as they yell “done,” and each parker only gets a single shot per event.
Since the inaugural event, more than 475 drivers have participated in the quest to determine Pittsburgh’s best parallel-parker, with all scores viewable on a public leaderboard. It seems like a real community’s sprung up around parking, with this year’s event bringing unexpected additional entertainment. As Leber detailed, “One of last year’s volunteers DJ’d, which was awesome, and we unexpectedly had 20-30 people hanging out all day just watching.”
One thing I adore is just how grassroots the Pittsburgh Parallel Parking Championship is. Promotion is done pretty much all through word-of-mouth, planning only starts about a month in advance, and there’s no goal of monetizing or scaling the free-to-enter, volunteer-run Championship. Leber has the right attitude:
My ethos for putting this event on is to do something a little goofy, give adults a chance to win a couple sweet trophies, and offer something that’s 100 percent zero sales. We intentionally don’t have merch or sponsorships because I want this event to speak for itself.
While I’d totally rock a Pittsburgh Parallel Parking Championship shirt, I have the ultimate respect for the mission statement of having a good time and not making things too commercial.
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While the fifth annual Pittsburgh Parallel Parking Championship happened in September, that gives all aspiring entrants an opportunity to practice, plan how to get down there for next year, and dedicate a day to doing something fun. Even if you can’t make the drive to Pittsburgh, the Instagram page for the event is absolutely worth a follow.
Top graphic images: Instagram/Pittsburgh Parallel Parking Championship
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Math guy here: The equalizer is ADDED, not multiplied, to the first term.
The arithmetic of the first entrant in that picture bears this out.
The picture also notes this on the right side.
Having learned to parallel park in a full size van on a busy street during rush hour, I’d be up for this. But as a spectator, not a participant.
Welcome to Pittsburgh. You can’t get there from here.
Welcome to Pittsburgh: Like Boston on the side of a hill.
Welcome to Pittsburgh: You have to go through 2 tunnels and over 4 bridges to get there.
Welcome to Pittsburgh: We have named streets that are just staircases.
Lived there for about ten years on and off.
I have never found a city that is a bigger pain in the ass to drive around. Not Boston, not Chicago, not Los Angeles.
Not a straight road anywhere. No two lanes that don’t merge to a single lane anywhere. No way to avoid a bridge or tunnel. No real freeways. No bypass. Train system is a silly joke for the south hills only. HOV lane to the north is open for an hour. Secret Wabash tunnel is open only when someone wants to open it.
So many awful roads in that city and there’s no other way. You wanna go to the south, have fun on 53. You need to be anywhere at 5? Get a helicopter. I got the fun of having to drive into downtown when that Wal-Mart they were going to build along the Ohio River Blvd slid down into the road. The utter chaos of making everyone drive through the handful of two lane roads up and over the hills was awful.
Going from East Liberty to the Strip is like riding a very slow-moving roller coaster.
At least they finally had the decency to rename 376. That one road used to have three route numbers depending on where you were. It didn’t matter anyway because all anyone called it was “the parkway”. Which part? Yinz know, it’s the parkway!
I was so happy to move out of that city.
See as a recent transplant to Pittsburgh (5 years now), all of that is true, and that’s why ebikes have been massive QoL for day to day travel. Really unlocking the city from the grips of its car masochism.
I was tempted to go to this, but frankly I’ve never dialed in the parking on my Alltrack like I did on my Passat wagon. They’re the same width, and the Golf is 6″ shorter, so I’m not sure why, but maybe it’s the worse visibility. Or maybe it’s the crutch of the rear camera, which I don’t rely on, but it is there.
Mind, I’m still pretty good at it, but in the Passat I got compliments from strangers.
Speed?
If it was a contest of how small of a gap was left, I’d win for sure.
Should have a Bristol (UK) version. Parallel parking, but on a steep hill.
Believe me, no shortage of steep hills in Pittsburgh. Same neighborhood as the contest is a cobbled street that touches 13%, has 2-way traffic and parking on one side, and is about 20′ wide curb to curb.
Pittsburgh has the steepest street in the US and (weakly) arguably the world. There are miles of listed streets that are actually just pedestrian stairways up the hills that are too steep to drive on.
Honestly, I think I’ve needed to parallel park maybe once in the ~6 years I’ve been driving, except for practice for and during drivers tests. I love small towns!
I’ve been small town living for ten years now and it’s gotten to where I’m excited about an opportunity to parallel park; and it’s a nice ego boost to say: “yep, I still got it!”
I guess so! My little Geo Tracker is just so compact that it’s probably not hard anyways
I feel like an easy way to go about this is just buy a Smart ForTwo or a Fiat 500 and call if a day lol
The Fiat might work, but don’t go rushing up there with a Smart. But the scoring accounts for vehicle length, so the Fiat might not be enough of an advantage.
So parallel parking competitions are to Smarts what demolition derbies are to old Imperials
If the best vehicle for the event is the longest in proportion to it’s turning circle, then the traditional FX4 London black cab taxi is a must. 15 ft long, 25ft turning circle.
Although they are probably quite scarce in Pittsburgh.
Actually makes me wonder what other interesting options are out there. Obviously it starts to game the system and makes it less fun (unless maybe they add a “modified” category), but there’s probably some normal looking cars that you could sneak in. Obviously something like a Yaris would be good, but I’m thinking of the AE86 Corolla my buddy had setup for drifting with super high steering angles.
Very impressed by the leaderboard. Everyone has a splendid name!
I was thinking the same. “Ariel Beach-Westmoreland” is particularly fun.
That is super wholesome.
It is! I love that they just want to be a bit goofy and have some fun. And it’s easily repeatable for anyone to set up in their own hometown.
I was thinking “ooh, three-door automatic Yaris is easy mode” until I saw that they were indeed factoring in vehicle length in the final score.
With that in mind, I’d say a RWD Volvo wagon (15’10” or so) would be the way to go, with a tight turning radius and excellent visibility of each corner and the vehicles outside at either end.
My time has arrived! We need a New Orleans version.
Wait a minute, driver aids are allowed?!? I have a Mini Cooper with parking assist. How long is the drive from Austin to Pittsburgh?
Time is a factor and those go very slowly.
Oh yeah, you’d be all day waiting for that to finish up. The lack of speed is the #1 reason we don’t use the system in my wife’s Escape. How long does Ford think we’d get away with blocking an urban street while the car makes up it’s mind?
Yeah, I remember my boss buying a Fusion right when that first came out, he was so excited to show it off, we drove around for about half an hour before lunch trying to find a good parallel spot to demonstrate it. After that, I don’t think he ever used it again
I have only tried it once, but since my car is a manual, I control clutch and gas and the system only controls steering. So I’d only have to wait for the prompts when it adjust the steering. But yeah, I human that knows what they are doing would easily beat any time I could manage.
So… How would a blues brothers style parking job get ranked? Is breaking traction allowed, like backing in with a fwd car, pulling the handbrake, cranking the wheel and popping the clutch quickly to tuck the front end in? That’s a not-uncommon maneuver at least when it’s wet or snowy out
Yeah, that’s how they do it in various categories for the Guinness World Records https://youtu.be/3l31bNE6LT0 (yeah, rather a fun video to watch)
But the thing with Pittsburgh is that it’s for the everyperson using real world skills and not just highly trained and highly skilled stunt drivers so kudos to everyone involved with the Pittsburgh Parallel Parking Championship!! 🙂
That’s pretty impressive, but they didn’t show anyone actually getting the car out again. Try parking that tight in the real world and you’ll be there all day waiting for one of the other drivers to show up so you can go home.
Get out? Pffft, that’s for losers, the winners go home on the shoulders of the crowd, lol.
There are quite a few videos on Youtube & elsewhere showing people using, uh, power moves to get out of tight spots, like this one: https://youtube.com/shorts/OC2ssuwviuY?si=qgkywqFzLld8FHnY
Video link much appreciated. Autopian’s commenters are the best!
(same feeling for your later comment and link)
Cheers
For a couple of years I had to parallel park a 40-foot bus every day, several times a day in downtown traffic in a narrow street. I was damn good at it. The weird thing is, it was easier than parking my sedan. I don’t suppose they might consider a bus/straight truck competition class?
I have gotten so used to parallel parking a Chevy Express van on the tightest streets in an under construction neighborhood it’s insane. Something about how much less worried I am about a curb or scratch makes me significantly less likely to overthink and, well, curb it
Bonus if you had no windows in the back half! We had a conversion version that we got pretty good at parking, but my wife definitely had the knack and got it into places I didn’t want to try.
This was all mirrors and looking out the window, honestly gives me more info than a window 10 feet behind could
I can parallel park a Pete with a 53 foot van. Definitely need a competitive class for that
I had an easier time parking my ’88 K2500 than any other vehicle I’ve owned. Single cab long bed, so all kinds of visibility. Even my considerably smaller car with a camera is harder to park.
Reminds me of the time I parallel parked a bus after an ongoing dispute with another driver at an outdated downtown station.
My traincard stated I was allowed a 10 minute layover (if I was running on time) at a certain gate, but another guy liked to hog it. One day I got tired of the crap.
After dropping the passengers I drove to my gate and there it was, that mosquito’s bus. Tried confronting him but he was just a jerk. So I drove off onto the streets, found three metered spots open, and backed it in nice and tight. Yes, manipulating that 40 footer was easier than my sedan.
Right away someone started banging on the door saying I’m blocking the spots people like to use for a coffee shop. I politely explained I’m out of service and not accepting any passengers. Boy, some people lack a sense of humor and definitely don’t need a bunch of caffeine.
Soon after, parking enforcement crept up in the mirror. Damn, my pockets didn’t have any change and there was no way three parking tickets would look good to my employer. Pulled back out into traffic and that telephone two-way radio thing started beeping. It was dispatch asking why I left the station. My response was I just wanted my break; and of course they told me I’m supposed to continually circle the station until the gate clears.
Really! Spend my few relaxing moments driving in circles. What a bunch of bs.
Good story. My pet peeve was people who’d park in the loading zones so I couldn’t get to the curb to pick up or offload passengers. Heaven forbid if I parked outside of a loading zone, though I was frequently forced to do that. A couple of times cops threatened to ticket me, but always backed off when I pointed out the jammed up bus zones.
We in NYC should host the same, but turn it up to 11:
Yeah this was my experience in Chicago as well. Just add confusing, contradictory signage about the legality of using the spot at the given time.
What about a great driver just sliding into the spot?
Or the 70s/80s tv corollary, blasting head first, then reversing to complete, into that open spot right in front of the building to which you need to go?
Or the Frank Drebin maneuver.
I’m feeling the need to motor up and defend my good name given my last name is “Parker”
I thought it was Runabout
Also the winners have some great names! WE’LL SPARKLE FOR WILL SHARPLES! LET’S HONK FOR WES SHONK! A person named Beach named their daughter Ariel?! Ephorm?! KOPPENHOFER, for crying out loud!
Okay, Thomas, I’m out. Thanks for a surprisingly engaging piece at the end of the day.
Andy Warhol called Pittsburgh home. It’s not surprising the people there have a wicked sense of humor.
Carnegie Tech had a great acting program. My mom (research chemist at P&G) went to school with Barbara Feldon and Frank Gorshin.
Just yesterday I parallel parked the Mondial and I was reminded that its biggest handicap here isn’t the lack of power steering, tiny mirrors, and impossible view rearward over the soft top boot, but rather the abysmal turning radius. I can reef on the steering wheel all day long, but I’ll never be able to crank a swing like a “regular” car. I felt like I’d achieved something until I got out and realized I had 3+ feet to spare on both ends. I wonder if they’d give me a handicap for that. With a multiplier, you could let the Smarts back in. Hm…
I had to steer my disabled R107 with no power steering, and that was brutal with that 5.6L engine in front of you.
’95 Tracker with 4WD engaged and no power steering took some upper body strength. Getting it into a normal spot was difficult, never tried to parallel in those conditions.
That’s so awesome. I’m pretty good at parallel parking, but I’ve never considered testing my skills in a competition. I’d like to take a trip to Pittsburgh with my wife and do this but not tell her what is happening. Just be like “Oh, there’s a space!” and park it to cheers and admiration.
I hate parallel parking, but this seems like a lot of fun!
No mention of parking chairs?
That should absolutely be the trophy!
Appalachia is the best region of the US, and Pittsburgh continues to be the best City in Appalachia, and it’s because of fun, accessible crap like this happening ALL THE TIME. Anyone who disagrees must fight me out back at Primantis parking lot at 2 am.
Naturally, Cincinnati has views on this statement.
Ahh, Cincy. Lovely town. It’s close, but unfortunately it’s a 4 hour drive for me instead of a 45 minute drive, Yellow is a better color than Orange, and this was Mr. Roger’s town.